2019 Ram Recap - Week 6 - Sad Diego

Boise State.    Wyoming.    Nevada.    Utah State.    Air Force.    Colorado.    Arkansas.    Toledo.    Utah State.    San Diego State.

Ten teams. Ten games. Ten Football Bowl Series (FBS) opponents.

Zero Ram victories.

The year – 2018. The month – October. The date – Saturday, the 13th. The location – Canvas Stadium. The opponent – the lowly University of New Mexico. The result – a tight 20-18 CSU victory. That game is the last time that the Colorado State University vanquished an FBS foe. It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times.

When Jim McElwain hopped on that private jet to Gainesville, he walked away from the 2014 season with a 10-2 regular season record and a program on the rise. Mike Bobo walked into a dream situation, immediately improved our recruiting rankings, and coached players onto NFL rosters. But the program has regressed overall. The team lacks discipline and the offense and defense can never align their good performances. As much as I like Bobo (he comes across as a genuinely good dude), I am starting to believe that this is the final season under his control.

This weekend was another brick in our wall of frustration.

We left the game early in the fourth quarter. Shout out to ESPN for the late kick time. Shout out to my kids for taking naps on the way up so we could make it that long. The game was still underway as we cruised down I-25 and I flipped the radio to listen to Brian Roth call the rest of the game. It did not take long for me to realize that listening to the game was not bringing me joy, so I switched it back to the XM radio. The first song that was playing?

You are correct - Nick, Joe, and Kevin. I am a sucker. A sucker that keeps coming back for more crappy football.

The positives: 

• My record predicting games (5-1!!). 
• For the second week in a row, the defense played well enough to win the game. The Ram defense limited the Aztecs to a total of 238 yards of offense, including less than 100 yards rushing. On third down, the Aztecs were a putrid 3 of 14. THAT SHOULD BE GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN.
• After several games of offensive struggles, Bobo finally tried something different. Unfortunately, I will be covering this more in depth in the next section. 
• I'm running out of things to put in this section. 
• Traffic going southbound from Fort Collins to Arvada is free-flowing and light at 11:30 on a Saturday night. 

The negatives: 

• The entire offensive performance. For the second straight game, the defense played at a level where a win should be expected yet the offense prohibited that from happening. 
• CSU ended the night with 18 rushing yards on 25 attempts. Hold on while I do some quick math... that works out to approximately 0.7 yards per attempt. One more quick calc... yeah, that's bad. As Robert and I discussed at the game, the quarterback play is partially to blame for the rushing ineptitude. Clearly, teams do not worry about the passing threat of Patrick O'Brien and the defense compresses toward the line of scrimmage. This compacted defensive alignment clogs running lanes and makes blocking for offensive linemen, tight ends, and full backs that much harder. Some sort of downfield threat needs to be established to keep the linebackers and secondary from creeping. 
• This is becoming repetitive, but the turnovers need to stop. Despite the solid defensive effort, they were unable to create any turnovers while the offense gave the ball away four times. Another round of quick calculations... that is a 4:0 turnovers made to turnovers created ratio. More calcs... this is also not good. 
• Two of those interceptions came in back-to-back passing attempts from Justice McCoy, who Bobo inserted into the game late in the third quarter in an attempt to generate something out of his offensive unit. While I appreciate that Bobo heard our pleas to try something different with the offense, I do not appreciate the effort by McCoy to make us look stupid. 
• In the middle of the second quarter, CSU received a punt down 10-3. Dante Wright gathered the ball and ran backwards. A personal foul penalty was assessed during the play and the Rams started at their own 3 yard line. A few plays later, the Rams had marched all the way down the field and had 1st and goal at the 5 yard line. The first down play was a 4 yard Marvin Kinsey run. Second and goal at the one. Marvin Kinsey run up the middle for no gain. Third and goal at the one. Marcus McElroy run up the middle for no gain. Fourth and goal at the one. Marcus McElroy run up the middle for a loss of one. Turnover on downs. Awesome. 
• My faith in this team going forward. 

Up Next - Week 7

At the beginning of the season, I predicted the Rams would win a road game in Albuquerque in October. I still believe this is possible, not because of my trust in the Rams to win a game but because of New Mexico's ability to actually be worse than CSU.

Shall we be positive for a moment? We shall. The crew of people on the Rams Creative team are so freaking talented. The graphics and videos that come out of that group are amazing.

💡 𝙁𝙍𝙄𝘿𝘼𝙔 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙎 💡

Headed to Albuquerque on Friday for a showdown with the Lobos!

📍 Albuquerque, N.M.
⏰ Friday, 6 p.m. MT
📺 CBS Sports Network pic.twitter.com/zqZyCm2Jk4

— Colorado State Football (@CSUFootball) October 8, 2019

Week	Opponent	Prediction	Result	Flick's Picks
1	Colorado (Denver)	L	CU 52 - CSU 31	1 - 0
2	Western Illinois	W	CSU 38 - WIU 13	2 - 0
3	at Arkansas	L	UA 55 - CSU 34	3 - 0
4	Toledo	W	UT 41 - CSU 35	3 - 1
5	at Utah State	L	USU 34 - CSU 24	4 - 1
6	San Diego State	L	SDSU 24 - CSU 10	5 - 1
7	at New Mexico	W
8	BYE	--
9	at Fresno State	L
10	UNLV	W
11	BYE	--
12	Air Force	W
13	at Wyoming	W
14	Boise State	L

2019 Ram Recap - Week 5 - Aggies, But the Bad Ones

The Ram faithful asked for some semblance of a defense. We got it. The Ram faithful asked for turnovers. We got those. The Ram faithful asked for a road victory as 23.5 point underdogs in Logan. We got greedy.

The defense showed some resiliency for the first time this season. As the teams went into the locker room at halftime, CSU had already doubled their forced turnovers FOR THE SEASON with a fumble recovery and an interception. While the interception was returned for a touchdown, the fumble recovery resulted in 8 yards, a failed 4th down attempt, and a turnover on downs after receiving the ball on the Utah State 35 yard line. In what has become commonplace this season, the Rams failed to do the little things necessary to win a football game. The concern at halftime was that despite the fact that CSU was winning the turnover battle, CSU was still losing by a field goal. They were right there. Within striking distance. With a defense who looked energetic and was flowing to the ball and was not making the same boneheaded positional mistakes of the previous weeks. That dang word reared its ugly head -- hope.

The Aggies got the ball to start the second half and they looked to do what every other team has done to the Rams this season; make adjustments and run away with the game. The second play of the second half was yet another CSU takeaway, a Keevan Bailey interception at the Utah State 30 yard line. Again, the offense sputtered in three plays and took the three points to tie the game. Just minutes into the third quarter and the Rams had generated only 10 points off of three turnovers on the Utah State side of the field. The little things...

The next Utah State drive was efficient as Jordan Love drove his team to the CSU 1 yard line. The sloppy, rainy weather decided to inject itself into the ballgame and CSU jumped on a dropped snap for their fourth forced turnover of the game. How did the Ram offense respond to this gluttony of turnovers? On the next eight drives:

• Three plays, four yards - PUNT
• Three plays, three yards - PUNT
• One play, thirty-five yards - FUMBLE
• Three plays, one penalty, ten yards - PUNT
• Four plays, nineteen yards - FUMBLE
• One play, four yards - FUMBLE RETURNED FOR A TOUCHDOWN
• Three plays, one yard - PUNT
• Five plays, eighteen yards - TURNOVER ON DOWNS

Ball game. 

In the end, the Rams covered the spread through a positive turnover margin and a decent offensive first half. For the first time this season, the defense was good enough to win the game and the offense in the second half let them down. 

The positives:

• THE DEFENSE FINALLY FORCED SOME TURNOVERS!! While the weather most certainly played into this factor, the Rams defense took advantage of some sloppy play from the Aggies and registered four total takeaways in the contest (2 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions). 
• Andre Neal and Keevan Bailey (along with the rest of the secondary) had their best game of the season. 

Not only is that the first interception for Andre Neal at CSU, it's the first interception of the season for @CSUFootball.

The last time CSU had a pick six was last season at San Jose State. (Rashad Ajayi, 55 yards)

— Colorado State Stats and Info (@CSUStatsInfo) September 29, 2019

• Nate Craig-Myers showed flashes of what got him recruited by Auburn out of high school. 
• I correctly predicted that the Rams would lose this game, putting my season prediction record at 4-1. 

The negatives: 

• The run game was atrocious. The front seven of the Aggies controlled the line of scrimmage and held the Rams to a measly 2.26 yards per carry. Ooof. 
• The offensive production in the second half. I cannot say whether it was play calling or execution, but those second half drives listed above were garbage. Not only could they not score in the second half, the Rams could not even gain enough yardage for a first down. Ugly. 
• Marvin Kinsey has had an incredible season in 2019. Yet he was not on the field for the final drives after coughing up the ball on two consecutive offensive plays in the second half. If you cannot secure the ball, you cannot see the field. (Granted, one of the fumbles sure looked like his forward progress had been completely stopped before Utah State stripped the ball and took it to the house.)
• Terry Frei criticized Ram fans on Twitter for blaming Patrick O'Brien for the loss (and rightly so - it was not completely O'Brien's fault that the offense went belly-up in the second half). 

Was I hearing some CSU folks scapegoating a backup quarterback?

— Terry Frei (@TFrei) September 29, 2019

• But that does not mean that O'Brien does not deserve some criticism. Collin Hill backed up his physical talents with quality decision-making and smooth transitions through his progressions. More often than not, Hill made smart decisions with the football that resulted in productive plays. When you lose your stud starting quarterback to injury, there is bound to be a reduction in those traits and we are seeing that with O'Brien. Late in the game, there were two plays that come to mind - both involve Marcus McElroy sliding out of the backfield as an underneath receiver. The first play, McElroy was wide open - not a defender within 15 yards of him and standing right at the sticks. O'Brien did not make it through his progressions and threw the ball incomplete. A few plays later, O'Brien makes it through his progressions and dumps the ball off to McElroy a few yards short of the first down. Except this time, McElroy was bracketed by two defenders and was immediately tackled. 
• The second half offense.
• Also, the offensive effort in the second half. 
• Did I mention how bad the second half offense was?!! 

Up Next - Week 6

Homecoming!! ESPN decided that the best way to bring Rams back to campus was to schedule an 8:00 kickoff. Blech.

This week, the Rams host San Diego State for the annual "Stripe the Stadium" game. Our section (239) is green, thankfully, as I own far more green CSU apparel than white CSU apparel. As for the football game - whatever. The Aztecs won a barn-burner (final score 6-0) against Weber State to open the season, then won back-to-back road games at UCLA and at New Mexico State before losing to those same Aggies of Utah State in week 4. SDSU will be coming to Fort Collins fresh off a bye week and I do not see this ending well. My original prediction was that the Rams would lose this game and I will stick by that this week.

At least we crush the tailgate each week... #GoRams 

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Tailgating needs tunes and moves. #GoRams

A post shared by Mike Flick (@flickerbock) on Sep 21, 2019 at 6:11pm PDT

Week	Opponent	Prediction	Result	Flick's Picks
1	Colorado (Denver)	L	CU 52 - CSU 31	1 - 0
2	Western Illinois	W	CSU 38 - WIU 13	2 - 0
3	at Arkansas	L	UA 55 - CSU 34	3 - 0
4	Toledo	W	UT 41 - CSU 35	3 - 1
5	at Utah State	L	USU 34 - CSU 24	4 - 1
6	San Diego State	L
7	at New Mexico	W
8	BYE	--
9	at Fresno State	L
10	UNLV	W
11	BYE	--
12	Air Force	W
13	at Wyoming	W
14	Boise State	L

2019 Ram Recap - Week 4 - Rocketed

So we are doing this again, huh? The Toledo Rockets came into Fort Collins late on Saturday night to finish up the non-conference slate for my Rams and boy did that game disappoint. While Toledo is a quality opponent, CSU should beat a MAC team at home. The loss drops the Rams to 1-3 and (most importantly) marks the first of my incorrect predictions this season. I am irate. 

Going into this contest, there was high probability of a shootout with CSU's defense showing limited signs of life this season and a Toledo offense that has accumulated yards and scores with ease over the past calendar year. The first half was surprisingly low scoring, with Toledo holding a 14-13 lead. With an offense that looked good despite playing its backup quarterback, we hoped that maybe the Rams could reverse their disastrous second half trends from this season. 

As ESPN hates the fact that my entire family has season tickets, the game was scheduled to start at 8:15, got delayed until 8:30, and had more penalties and television breaks than normal. As a result, we took a cue from our cranky kid (just one, the other two were fine) and left the game toward the beginning of the third quarter during a stretch of the game when neither team wanted to play defense. When the dust settled at the end of the third quarter, Toledo scored 21 points in the quarter, rushed for over 200 yards in the quarter, and exposed the CSU defense once again. A back and forth battle in the fourth quarter produced drama as the Rams got the ball back down six with 31 seconds left in the game. A few plays later, the fate of the game rested on a single play from the 25 yard line - Patrick O'Brien connected with EJ Scott and he was brought down... at the 2 yard line. Toledo wins. 

The positives:

• The offense still looked good with Patrick O'Brien at the helm. While his ability to throw on the move is significantly less than Collin Hill's, he made some good throws throughout the game. As a unit, they put up 35 points and generated 694 yards of offense. That should be sufficient to win a football game. 
• Marvin. Kinsey. Junior. Or as we like to say after the CU announcer debacle: Marvlin. Kinsley. Junlior. Whatever you call him, the dude can tote the rock. Twenty three carries. Two hundred forty-six yards. Two touchdowns. The man is on a mission in his senior season to show that he is worthy of a look at the next level. 

.@KinseyMarvin leads the nation in All-Purpose yards per game (@hornungaward) and leads the nation in rushes of 20+ yards with 7

He is also the only player with multiple runs of 70 yards or more.

— Colorado State Stats and Info (@CSUStatsInfo) September 23, 2019

• Warren Jackson frequently made the Toledo defensive backs look foolish, either making a catch over a scrambling cornerback or forcing a scrambling cornerback to commit pass interference.
• The offense only had one turnover - a Patrick O'Brien interception late in the first half. The running backs and receivers held onto the ball and limited the opportunities for Toledo to turn the tide of the contest with a takeaway. 
• This picture:

Courtesy of Colorado State University

The negatives: 

• The defense (if you can even call it that) was atrocious. Toledo ran at will, both with running back Bryant Koback (a Kentucky Wildcat transfer who amassed 228 yards and 3 TDs on 19 carries) and quarterback Mitchell Guadagni (119 yards, 1 TD, 12 carries). 
• A bad defense can totally redeem itself if it has an ability to generate turnovers. CSU cannot get a turnover to save their lives (or John Jancek's job, currently). 
• There were four, yes four, illegal formation penalties on the Rams for having more than four players off the line of scrimmage. Four times the Rams pushed themselves backwards because someone did not know where to stand. 
• This was not a disciplined football game on either side. The Rams had an additional 7 penalties on top of the illegal formation penalties for a total of 11 penalties for 82 yards. Team discipline on the field has been an issue throughout the Mike Bobo era and it continues to frustrate the Ram faithful. 
• At the end of the half, Nate Craig-Myers caught a Patrick O'Brien pass at the 2 yard line as time expired. At the end of the game, EJ Scott caught a Patrick O'Brien pass at the 2 yard line as time expired. In both of those situations, (a) Patrick O'Brien needs to get the ball to his receivers over the goal line and (b) the receivers should not be running short of the end zone. Little details make the difference between a win and a loss and the same mistake happened twice in one game. 

Oh and this is how CSU-Toledo ended. pic.twitter.com/WY5EwOi8gJ

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) September 22, 2019

• We forgot the football-shaped cookies for our tailgate at our house. 
• I ate like three of those sadness cookies as time expired. The Rams' poor play is going to make me gain weight.  
• The Arkansas team that thumped the Rams in the fourth quarter last week lost at home to the former doormat of the Mountain West Conference, the San Jose State Spartans. 
• The Rams lost at home to Toledo. 
• The Rams might now be the doormat of the Mountain West Conference. 

Up Next - Week 5

Conference play begins this week with a trip to Logan to face the other Aggies in the conference - Utah State. This past weekend, Utah State won on the road against conference foe San Diego State. To increase the degree of difficulty, Marvin Kinsey, Warren Jackson, Ellison Hubbard, and Toby McBride are all questionable/doubtful for this upcoming game.  I have a hard time seeing how the Rams leave Utah with a victory. 

To be quite honest, my relatively tempered expectations for the Rams this year might not be able to be met. Our defensive play will not allow us to be competitive as we face the other "State" schools (Utah, Boise, Fresno, San Diego) or rivalry schools (Air Force, Wyoming). The two other downtrodden programs that we face this year (New Mexico, UNLV) might be our only chances at victories the rest of this season. That is pathetic. Would Bobo be able to survive another 3-9 season? I would venture to guess that he would not. Will Bobo make some changes mid-season to try and right the ship? The obvious answer is to fire John Jancek, but I do not know if that will help. Who on the staff could slide into the defensive coordinator role and make an impact? I have no idea. Regardless, Bobo's future in Fort Collins now rests on the performance of his coaches and players over the next 8 games. 

Flick's Picks

Week	Opponent	Prediction	Result	Flick's Picks
1	Colorado (Denver)	L	CU 52 - CSU 31	1 - 0
2	Western Illinois	W	CSU 38 - WIU 13	2 - 0
3	at Arkansas	L	UA 55 - CSU 34	3 - 0
4	Toledo	W	UT 41 - CSU 35	3 - 1
5	at Utah State	L
6	San Diego State	L
7	at New Mexico	W
8	BYE	--
9	at Fresno State	L
10	UNLV	W
11	BYE	--
12	Air Force	W
13	at Wyoming	W
14	Boise State	L